Friday, 30 October 2009

Sunday, 25 October 2009

This month's MyChoons is on Charlie's birthday - so not one guest, but six (yep - six!) will join Charlie and Andrew for another night of musical musings exploring the rhythms of life.

Don't forget to take part in MyChoons by telling us about the tunes that shaped your life here. Every tune that we talk about on the night gets a free ticket to the next event (and we already know you don't want to miss that one). And this month you can even leave a musical present for the birthday boy himself!

Our featured artist this week is singer Andreya Triana, newly signed to Ninja Tune. Her vocals are already in demand, featuring on recording for the likes of Fink, Flying Lotus, Kid Kanevil, Mr. Scruff, Bonobo and Theo Parrish. At this month’s MyChoons we’ll be hearing exclusive tracks from her upcoming debut album (and maybe even a rendition of “Happy Birthday” just for Charlie). We'll leave the last word on Andreya to Radio 1's Gilles Peterson who said: "I love her voice, and she's always on great tracks, but her own music takes it to the next level"

Joining us on the MyChoons sofa are five of the most influential voices in British music.

Chantelle Fiddy is editor of ctrlaltshift.co.uk and their bi-annual magazine, a columnist with RWD, Mixmag and SuperSuper and her own highly-rated blog. Where the music industry is concerned Chantelle has worked on projects with The Streets, Ministry of Sound and 679 Recordings amongst others.

Lulu Le Vay started out as deputy editor of mouthy fanzine Sleazenation in the mid-90s which led her to write for The Face, Jockey Slut and Xray through to The Independent on Sunday, The Evening Standard and the Observer. Along with writing and events, Lulu also manages artists, such as Spektrum, Crazy P, George Demure and more recently for marketing and talent agency Think Espionage, Beardyman and Ashley Beedle.

Hattie Collins is a journalist and a hypochondriac (in that order). Hattie’s the editor of RWD magazine and writes about music for i-D, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Big Issue and anyone else that will have her apart from the Daily Mail.

Emma Warren helped found mid '90s music mag Jockey Slut. A leading expert on the history of sound-system music, she's been a judge on the Mercury Prize on four occasions hosts her own monthly podcast, Wandering Feet for Red Bull Music Academy (feed://podcasts.redbull.com/rbma), and compiles the Steppas Delight albums for Soul Jazz Records.

Jacqueline Springer began her music journalism career at Blues & Soul magazine, before contributing to Vibe, the NME, Muzik and The Independent. Jacqueline currently commentates on BBC television and radio on contemporary black music issues. She also lectures at universities in the UK and the United States.

Ctrl.Alt.Shift teamed up with Don't Panic to film two senior BNP figures barring non-white Ctrl.Alt.Shift members from entering one of their meetings, despite the fact the party had been forced to admit black and Asian members.

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Tinchy Stryder is the biggest selling UK male artist of the year. With two number 1 singles, a certified gold album, a much-in-demand clothing line and a sold out headline tour under his belt, it is no surprise that he has been described as ‘Britain’s hottest new rapper’ (Guardian) who ‘has been instrumental in turning British Urban music from a minority interest into a commercially successful mainstream scene’ (The Times). Now Tinchy Stryder is set to release ‘You’re Not Alone’, the fifth single from ‘Catch 22’, (out on Island Records on 26th October), and has confirmed a second UK headline tour for February 2010.

Tuesday, 13 October 2009

I got a new haircut. Thomas Aastad told me it's a mix of Dannii Minogue, Katie Price and Anna Wintour - an enviable combination. But to the point.

I never seem to have time to blog... Not that I'm looking for sympathy. I just don't have the stamina to do allnighters anymore. Gone are the days when I could pen through the night and still go to work and do a good job the next day.

So, what's been going on?

Thelondonpaper folded. That was sad. And I hope all the staff there have moved into jobs other than those available at Pars R Us aka Tesco's. They still sell non-fairtrade bananas, which is swag. We said goodbye to three years of Murdoch's money with drinks at Shoreditch House and a mean curry. Thanks again to Lottie, Alexa, Dominic, Andy, Eva, Stuart, Malcolm, Bridget, Neil, David and everyone else who played a role in my time there.

On the same day I saw this news on Sky (yes, that's how alot of us found out about the paper's demise), I did my first piece for The Guardian's Comment Is Free section, on form 696. If you're raising an eyebrow thinking 'what the feck is that', click HERE to read it. The way they cut my head out of my pictures makes me look like a potatoe, but I've got nothing against vegetables so cool.

I've also been preoccupied with the relaunch of Ctrl.Alt.Shift, which I edit.

If you still haven't clocked, Ctrl.Alt.Shift is a movement for a new generation fighting social and global injustice. We use popular culture in a bit to do this.

Ctrl.Alt.Shift year one was crazier than Boris Johnson's hair.

Following our launch in June 2008, we embarked on our mission. As well as exposing madness and bringing the world to rights on the website and magazine we took action against countries restricting the travel of people living with HIV and highlighted the 50 million women missing in India. Given our love for all things art, music and culture, we teamed up with Vice, BALTIC, Sadlers Wells, and launched a film project which resulted in the five shorts which are now touring festivals.

I've already blogged about the shorts films you can now watch, but in addition, there's loads of new content for the readers amongst you. Joining the Ctrl blog roll are Holly Ferguson, author Ben White, Don't Panic editor Heydon Prowse, Yumna Martin (who previously wrote for 17 - South Africa!) and Riz Ahmed (well he's a contributing editor but you get the idea). You'll still be able to read Alfred James' weekly reports from Thailand's seedy clubs and beyond, Jody McIntyre's Life On Wheels, live from the heart of Palestine, Russell Myrie and Richard Lemmers comment pieces on whatever's burning our news agenda and Bibi van der Zee's environmental column. To find out about the man dem we've even made a special section for it HERE.

I'm going hard with issue 4 of the magazine 2, which soon cometh. There's more pages, a new format and a lot more food for thought, so watch this space.

One highlight of the last few months has been getting invited up to Nihal's Radio 1 Review Show. You can listen to it for another five days. I recommend it simply because Reggie Yates and Felix from Basement Jaxx, who I joined on the panel, were busting some serious jokes. Felix wins the comedy award though. Lauch the iplayer HERE.

Today Collins and I took over Diesel U Music Radio for two hours, joined by the delectable Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly and Bluey Robinson. Both of our guests showed X Factor how's it done. For the first time in Diesel history we also got the two artists to collaborate and boy did it sound good. Audio soon come, I promise. The show also boasted new tracks from Addictive, Chipmunk, Giggs, Wiley (Take That bitches), and loads of others I've forgotten. Par.

If you're still actually reading, I got promoted to contributing editor at RWD too. Thanks guys. Oh and I think you owe me a cheque from time ago. Don't watch though, congrats Chewy + Anna on the news (dunno if this is for public consumption n that).

Opting for a short based around war + peace, Ben Newman came up with one of the most popular entries, gaining praise across the board by re-creating a military training camp for child soldiers in a British school. It was described by Riz Ahmed as a great idea, simple, communicating a direct message. The teacher at the beginning is played by Kate Ashfield from Shaun of the Dead.

A verbose and politically correct bureaucrat gives a lecture to a group of teenagers on the merits of the UK's efficient and humane asylum system, whilst meanwhile, in the same building, detainees, imprisoned indefinitely in different 'Removal Centres' across the UK, leave messages in vain on an abandoned telephone answering machine in the ministry basement. Their messages detail the horror of the life that they have escaped due to conflict.

The main aim of Patricks film is to expose the ridiculous attitudes towards HIV. A series of video blogs posted by a young playwright, James McKenzie (played by Martin Freeman from The Office), whose artistic integrity is being challenged by the ignorance of a film company determined to hijack his script, represented by a producer played by Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh).

Wednesday, 7 October 2009

I was on Nihal's Radio 1 review show last night with Reggie Yates and Felix from Basement Jaxx. Was jokessss. You can listen back for the next week so if you're interested in our banter around the good, the bad and the very ugly records we were played, click HERE